So, only six matches to go and Andy Murray will be able to put himself through the torment of creating more tennis history at Wimbledon. Whatever his downbeat demeanour and whatever the pressure heaped on him by an expectant nation, he would not have it any other way.

The Scot began his defence of the title he won in such angst-riddled manner against Novak Djokovic a year ago with a largely untroubled 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 win over the elegant but underpowered and inconsistent Belgian David Goffin on Centre Court on Monday. It could hardly have gone more smoothly.

It took Murray a tick over two hours, less than he might have spent practising for it, to put away the world No105, and he hit his 28 clean winners with encouraging freedom and precision. There was no hint of discomfort from his back, which now seems to have just about healed after surgery nine months ago.

He struck eight aces, the last of them finishing the match, before he cast a quick glance towards his box where his new coach, Amélie Mauresmo, looked down approvingly. She might prove to be an inspired choice, although quite what the 1977 champion, Virginia Wade, thought of it was more than likely of little interest to the Murray camp.

The player and his advisers – including Mauresmo possibly, although she will not be drawn on the subject – were not best pleased with Wade’s gratuitous observation at the weekend that the Frenchwoman was “a little fragile mentally”. Even if that were a valid observation of some of Mauresmo’s playing career, especially when playing in front of her home audience, Murray offered a ringing counterpoint when he said it was just such experiences that would make her the right person to advise him, having gone through all those frustrations and doubts.

It is not as if it is a crime to suffer in sport. Failing and having doubts, as Rafael Nadal has pointed out many times after losing, are part of life. Murray knows, too, that he does not live in some perfect bubble.

Still, he was happy and maybe a bit relieved to get that first match out of the way. It will settle his nerves for bigger challenges to come, even if he is unlikely to meet much stiffer resistance in the second round on Wednesday, when he meets Blaz Rola, a left-handed Slovenian of modest accomplishments and glorious moniker. Rola beat the Spaniard Pablo Andújar 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 in 101 minutes, clearly going for his shots, with 35 winners and 35 unforced errors. He also hit four aces and four double-faults. That is revealing symmetry. This is not a man of half-measures.

The 23-year-old Rola comes from the modern mould: 6ft 4in and 175lb of lean power. He is ranked 92 in the world and spent his formative years in the American college system.

He beat Britain’s Daniel Smethurst (on court here on Tuesday against the American John Isner) in qualifying at Eastbourne last week, having lost to James Ward in straight sets at Queen’s and beaten the Londoner in the French Open.

But Rola comes with baggage, too, having retired with a knee injury when trailing 2-6, 1-3 in the first round against the Argentinian Carlos Berlocq at Eastbourne. If he is in any way fragile – mentally or physically – Murray will find him out on grass that is still fresh and tricky.

As for Murray’s state of mind, he seems just fine. For all the nonsense that swirls about him, he has learned the art of compartmentalising the various strands of his life. When asked on Monday about his recent stint as editor of the Beano, he pointed out: “Those are the sort of things that come up around this time of year for me.”

The 27-year-old champion was relaxed enough to elaborate: “That was a magazine that I read a lot when I was a kid. I was a bit like Dennis [the Menace] probably. I wasn’t particularly well behaved when I was a kid. My mum would definitely say that.”

Well, he was pretty well behaved despatching Goffin who looks young enough to be still reading the Beano. From the moment Murray broke him in the second game of the match until he saved two break points towards the end of the third set, he was in command. It was an efficient, cool performance.

For Goffin, his debut on Centre Court cannot have been that pleasant, given he often put himself into promising positions only to waste the opportunities because of his inability to adjust to the skidding ball on the slick grass.

With groundstrokes looser than Wade’s tongue, Goffin struggled to maintain a rally worth the name in the first 12 minutes, which is when 10 of his 28 unforced errors arrived, and that was way too much of a start to give a player as ruthless as the defending champion.

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